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Exiled Honduran leader establishes border camp
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-07-27 10:52 OCOTAL, Nicaragua: Ousted President Manuel Zelaya encamped his roving government in exile in this sleepy mountain town near the Honduran border Sunday to launch his return to power after a coup last month. After weeks of shuttling between Central America and Washington, Zelaya said he has no plans to leave the border region, despite a US State Department spokesman saying he would arrive Tuesday in Washington to restart negotiations with the interim government that deposed him.
"If someone wants to talk to me, let them come here to Ocotal," Zelaya said. He drew throngs of supporters and locals curious about the celebrity who has brought world attention and international media to a town of 35,000 just 15 miles (25 kilometers) from the Honduran border. Teenagers riding two to a bicycle, wrinkled coffee farmers, a shoeshine boy, a young mother and child all gathered to catch a glimpse of the now-famous politician in the white cowboy hat. Some were star-struck. "I think he's handsome," said Nimia Salinas Inestrosa, 23, who works at a vegetable stand with her mother. But his presence threatened to divide Nicaraguans as well. This town of two traffic lights suffered heavily during the 1980s Contra war, when US-backed rebels attacked the Sandinista government. Nicaragua's opposition Liberal Constitutionalist Party issued a statement Sunday calling Zelaya's actions "a threat to the peace, tranquility and friendship" between the two countries. Leftist President Daniel Ortega's ruling Sandinista party has championed Zelaya's cause. "What I'm starting to realize is that he has some problems in Honduras," said Jose Santo Ochoa, 66, who had to abandon his nearby coffee farm when it became a war zone in the 1980s. "It would be better to see him be the loser and look for a peaceful solution."
Washington has already suspended more than $18 million in military and development assistance. The European Union has frozen $92 million in development aid. US-backed talks led by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias broke down last week when Honduras' interim government said it won't allow Zelaya to return as president under any circumstances. It has vowed to arrest him if he sets foot in his homeland on four charges of violating the constitution. |
